Russian intermediate range ballistic missile. Vertical launch version of the R-5 missile for geophysical experiments under the Vertikal international program, equipped with a spherical re-entry capsule and a parachute recovery system. A wide range of international astrophysics and geophysics instruments were carried.

Early Russian Ballistic Missiles The true configuration of the world's first ICBM, the R-7, was revealed only in 1967, ten years after its first test. The Soviet N1 moon rocket was only revealed in 1990, 21 years after its first launch. At the same time, other Russian ballistic missiles were routinely paraded before the cameras of the world press even before they went into service. The extraordinary sensitivity of the Soviet leadership over these Korolev designs may be traced to the fact that they derived from the work of the Groettrup German rocket engineering team. More...

R-5 The R-5 was the first Soviet missile to be armed with a nuclear warhead, and the first for which the new southern facility at Dnepropetrovsk took over full design and production responsibility. The R-5 could deliver a 1425 kg warhead over a range of 1200 km, doubling the performance of the R-2. It was also the end of the road in being the ultimate extrapolation of German V-2 technology. Later missiles of both Yangel and Korolev would use other propellants and engine designs. More...

Kapustin Yar Russia's first missile test range and used for satellite launches of smaller Kosmos vehicles. V-2's launched from here in 1946 were the first ballistic missiles fired on Soviet territory. It was greatly expanded as the test site for innumerable Soviet intermediate and short range missile projects in the 1950's.. Kapustin Year was also headquarters of the first operational R-1/R-2 units, 1950-1953, and later a base for 12 operational R-14 missile launchers. Kapustin Yar was known to have been used for over 3519 major launches from 1946 to 2007. More...